By Ben Philpott, KUT News
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Dallas, TX – Texas Governor Rick Perry has unsuccessfully tried to get a meeting with President Barack Obama to go over the Federal Government's denial of wildfire disaster declaration in Texas. The President will be in Austin later today to speak at a fundraiser. For KUT News, Ben Philpott reports on how this year's natural disasters in Texas stack up against others in the country.
Since November - there have been 96-hundred Texas wildfires, with almost 2.4 million acres burned. As of this morning, the Texas Forest Service was battling 7 major wildfires. One of the largest so far was the Rockhouse fire that burned 315-thousand acres and 24 homes the House district of Alpine Democrat Pete Gallego.
Gallego: "That may not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things. But to those 24 families that lost their homes that's pretty significant."
Add damaging thunderstorms - and Texas has run up a pretty good-sized natural disaster tab this year. Mark Hanna is with the Insurance Council of Texas - an industry trade association.
Hanna: "So all and all the state with inclusion of Dallas/Fort Worth area has probably had a quarter-billion dollars in storm damage. When we're talking about wildfires - we're probably talking an equivalent number because the Possum Kingdom fire along was 150-million dollars in damage."
Even with that half a billion dollars in damage - President Obama and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have denied Texas a disaster declaration. FEMA officials say, even without that designation, the agency has given Texas 25 fire management grants - which reimburse firefighting expenses. Some politicians have questioned whether the President is playing politics with disaster relief - considering the testy relationship between Governor Rick Perry and the President.
Mr. Perry has not been one of those accusers - only saying her certainly hopes politics aren't involved. Others wonder if the severity of tornadoes and floods in the South has pushed Texas to the back of the line. Damage estimates from a series of late April storms that swept across the South have reached above 5-billion dollars. Representative Gallego says less damage doesn't equal less pain in Texas.
Gallego: "Well clearly there's been tornadoes, there's been flooding, there's been all sorts of issues. And I'm sure the federal government resources are tested and strained in those kind of things. But again to someone sitting Fort Davis, Texas or Marfa, Texas or Alpine, Texas they're looking at the house they no longer have and wondering where their tax dollars going and why aren't they getting the benefit of the bargain."
FEMA says they are continuing to monitor the situation in Texas. Additional fires could lead to additional grant money - or even a federal disaster declaration.